"I'm sorry. I don't know what I… I'm sorry." Max saw the smile slip from her face, and he couldn't take it anymore. He turned and ran down the stairway into the crowd.

Liz stood there shocked for a moment, watching him go. She wanted to cry. Liz knew that this was going to happen. He was talking out of the beer bottle, but she was stupid and let herself believe him. She couldn't let it end there. She needed to know the truth, whether he meant everything he said or not.

She chased him down the stairs and into the audience

"Max. Wait, Max. Did you really mean everything you said when we were alone tonight?" *Please, God! Please don't say no. I don't know if I could take it if he said no.*

Max stood there and stared at her confused for a moment. God, what did he miss? How much had happened? The agony he felt inside him was overwhelming. And the look of pain in Liz's eyes was killing him.

"I don't remember. What did I say?" Max had no idea what was going on, but he did know one thing. Liz had finally been given a chance to have some happiness. She had an opportunity to be with a nice, normal, human guy, and apparently he had taken all of that away from her, only to stick to the whole step back thing now. He wished there were some way to take it all back. Everything that had happened. He knew that no matter what it was, whatever he said now just wouldn't be enough.

"I'm didn't mean to ruin your night." Max turned and fled the concert. God, what had he done?

Liz watched him go, and could barely hold back the first tears which were building up in her eyes.

"You didn't…" She whispered as he pushed open the exit door, and left the building.

Liz stood there for a moment in shock. The night had been like a dream for her. Max had done everything, and said everything that she had always wanted him to say.

She knew from the start that he was drunk, but when the person who possesses your heart and soul says things like that, you just can't ignore them. Liz had tried to stop it early on, but she couldn't, and before she knew it, they were in too deep.

Liz smiled inwardly for a moment, thinking about how Max had just let it all out, and gone completely crazy on her. She had always wanted to see him like that. Tonight, he had made her laugh, he had touched her heart in a way that no one else could. The things he said and did…

She looked up at the exit sign. Liz couldn't just let it go, not after all that had happened that night. It had been too perfect, too much of a dream. He may not remember it all, but she needed to try and make him remember, and find out if it had all been the lies of a drunk, or whether Max had been truly opening his heart to her.

As Maria began to croon a soft song behind her, Liz ran out the exit door, and scanned the alleyway outside for Max Evans.

She found him sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, his feet kicking at the muck in the gutter, his head in his hands.

--------

Max was desperately trying to remember what had happened between them, but it was all so foggy. He remembered watching that guy kiss Liz, and then Kyle offering him the alcohol, and then nothing. Everything was blurry after that. Until he had kissed Liz, that is. The kiss had come in loud and clear for him. What had he done to her? He was lower than the muck in the gutter, the way he was playing games with her heart. She probably never wanted to see him again, and he didn't blame her. Max wished that he could go away, far away. Give her even more space than he already was, so that maybe she could forget about him and get on with her life.

But even as he thought that, Max knew he was lying to himself. He didn't want to go away. No, wait, he DID want to go away, he just didn't want to go away without her. More than once, Max had thought about what a dream it would be for the two of them to just pick up and run away together. Far away to a place where no one believed in aliens, and Roswell was just a town which people heard about on bad science fiction shows. To a place where there was no FBI, and no Sheriff Valenti's who were constantly watching him.

Deep inside of his heart, all Max Evans wanted in the world was to be with Liz.

But he couldn't do that. To run off with Liz would be to let down everyone else in his life: Michael, Isabel, and his parents. He was obligated to stay here, and to help Michael in his never-ending quest to find their origins. He had to be there for his family. It would destroy them to loose him.

For the first time in years, Max Evans let a tear slip down his cheek. He felt like he had lost control of his life. There was only one thing in the world that he wanted, and he couldn't have it because of his obligation to everyone else. He always had to be the strong one, the level headed one. It was what everyone always expected of him. But right now he couldn't even think clearly enough to even figure out how he was going to get home from there, let alone lead his friends.

Max gave in to his feelings of agony, and let the tears fall freely. They dripped down his cheeks, and fell to the gutter, where they joined the rest of the waste finding refuge there.

Liz reached out slowly, and tapped his shoulder. When Max whipped his face around, and she saw his bloodshot, tear stained eyes, she began to really wonder again what was going on inside of him. Did she make the right decision by coming out and trying to talk to him, or should she just be leaving him alone.

"Can I… Is it okay if I join you?" Liz asked him hesitantly.

"No. Don't… It's a mess down here. You'll ruin your dress."

"It can be washed." Liz replied as she sat down beside him, the hem of her dress hanging in the sewage.

"Listen, Liz. I don't know what happened out there tonight. I have no idea what I said to you or anything, but I'm sorry. It wasn't fair of me to do this to you, to tear your heart up like this. You deserve better, someone who can commit to you safely. Maybe that guy in there. Of course, I probably ruined any chance you had with him."

"Max, you didn't ruin anything tonight." She laughed, "If anyone ruined the date, it was that damn deejay. And for your information, the date wasn't even all that fun. He wasn't that interesting. He wasn't you." She laughed again. "That's what you've done to me, Max Evans. You've made my life so exciting that no one else is good enough for me anymore."

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, God. I wasn't blaming you for anything. I like my life the way it is right now, with the excitement and all. There's only one thing that I'm not getting enough of right now, one thing that's making me unhappy, and that's not being with you."

"Liz, it isn't safe…"

"Don't start that again, Max. I don't want to hear it. What I do want to hear, is what's really going on with you. Did you really mean everything you said tonight, or was it all just lies?"

"I already told you that I don't remember what I said."

"I think you do, Max. If you look into your heart. I know you better than anyone else. Maybe even better than Michael and Isabel at times. I can tell when you're lying to yourself. You were lying to yourself just then when you said that it wasn't safe. And I could tell that you weren't lying to me tonight. I think you were speaking straight from your heart, Max. So look into your heart, Max. Find what's written there, and tell me that you really meant it. You owe me that much."

Max felt the fear deep inside of himself. He couldn't do it. He couldn't tell Liz what he was feeling. If he did, it would tear the rest of his world apart.

"I'm sorry, Liz."

Liz studied him for a few moments, waiting to see if that was his final answer. When he said nothing further, Liz sighed and stood up, lifting herself out of the gutter.

"Okay Max, if that's the way you want to be. Do you want to know what you said? You told me that you were going crazy without me. You said that I was your dream girl. You told me that when we were together it was like magic, and that even if you woke up tomorrow and the magic was gone, we'd still have each other. I said that it could never be normal, and you said that you wouldn't want it to be. You asked me to run away with you, far away from Roswell, and never go back. And when I told you that you were only saying this because you were drunk, you insisted that you were telling the truth. Now I want you to think about that as you sit here alone in the gutter, Max, and I hope that you can finally figure out what you want. I'm going to go home now."

And Liz walked away, while Max just stared after her in shock.

It's February 9th. I'm Liz Parker, and tonight has been, well, interesting to say the least. I finally did it. I finally tried to date another guy, and I failed miserably, in the process realizing once again that only Max Evans possesses my heart. I don't think I could ever care for anyone else romantically again. It just wouldn't feel right to me. So, here's what I'm thinking. Unless Max finally gets his act together and realizes that we belong together, I'm destined for a long, miserable life alone…

Liz sat on her balcony writing in her diary. She stopped writing, and hugged her diary close to her. Life alone…it just wasn't something she had ever expected her future to hold. The tears that she had been holding back all night finally broke free, rushing down her face and over her nose as she let them loose. She looked up and saw the heart on the wall. M.E. + L.P. It didn't help her at all, and she cried harder, shaking and sniffling. She just lost control and let all the pain out.

Liz was crying so hard that she didn't even see Max swing over the wall by the ladder, and walk towards her. He kneeled down next to her, and put his arms around her, pulling her close.

"Shhh." Max whispered. "It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay, Liz." Max rocked her gently. She cried freely for a few more minutes, before finally taking a few deep breaths and calming herself down.

Liz looked up into Max's eyes, and noticed that they were still red from his breakdown earlier that day.

"God, we're a couple of lovesick fools," She whispered. Max reached up, and placed one of his fingers over her lips.

"Shh…let me talk for once." Liz nodded. "I meant every word of it, Liz. You were right. For once I was letting myself speak straight from the heart."

"I knew that, Max. That's what made it so special to me, even though you were horribly drunk." She giggled.

"Yeah, I was, wasn't I? Jeez, I can't believe I did that," Max gestured to the huge iridescent heart on the wall.

Liz giggled, "It was pretty out there, even for you space boy."

"Seriously though, Liz. There's something I need you to understand. Everything that I said to you today came straight from my heart, down to the whole running away together thing. I can't deny that I've wanted to do that more than once. But the thing is that I have to be there for Michael and Isabel, and I can't let anything get in the way of that. And when I'm with you I can't think of anything but you, because in my heart, you're all that matters in the world. That was why I took a step back, Liz. I need to find a way that we can be together without compromising my life with Michael and Isabel."

"We'll find a way, Max. Running away together would just be the easy way out."

"its going to be tough, Liz. Michael and Isabel aren't thrilled with our relationship."

"Well, they're just going to have to get used to it then, won't they."

"Yeah."

"Max, I understand that sometimes they're going to have to come first. You may think that this is something that is unique to you because of your position, but it's not. Sometimes Alex and Maria are going to have to come ahead of you, too. I mean, admittedly, it may happen more often to you, and it may be for more serious reasons, but it's a two edged sword, Max. And it's something we'll adjust to."

"We'll make it work, Liz. I promise."

"Max, no matter what we go through, it'll all be worth while for me, because we're together." Max grinned. "We will make it work, Max. We just have to be prepared for whatever obstacles lie ahead. And I think that with the exception of us, that's you and me, we've done a pretty good job with everything so far. I mean, we got the FBI off your back. We've learned so much. And we'll keep going as we have. The only difference, is that we'll get to do this once in a while."

This time it was Liz's turn to grab Max's face, and pull his lips to hers. They kissed with a fiery passion that neither of them knew that they had in them.

"I love you, Max."